Card payment market and retail prices : an empirical analysis of the effects of the interchange fee on price levels in Spain

This collection includes a selection of research by students of the PhD Program in Applied Economics (UAB) and the Master of Applied Research in Economics and Business (MAREB) - specialization in Applied Economics.The present paper examines how changes in the interchange fee affect retail prices. The interchange fee is a payment from the merchant's bank (called the acquirer) to the cardholder's bank (called the issuer) per card transaction. This is a fundamental feethat affects the card payment usage by a cardholder and the card acceptance by a merchant. By considering the two sidedness nature of this market, the paper investigates the short-and long-run relationships between the interchange fee and retail prices in Spain from the first quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2019. The paper finds that in the long-run, retail prices decrease as a result of declining interchange fee as had been expected by regulatory authorities

Single euro payment area and banking industry : discriminatory pricing vs. non-discriminatory pricing

This collection includes a selection of research by students of the PhD Program in Applied Economics (UAB) and the Master of Applied Research in Economics and Business (MAREB) - specialization in Applied Economics.The Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) project eliminates the incompatibility of domestic payment systems across European countries. It also enforces uniform pricing between national and international transactions. How does this policy affect competition among European banks in the retail payment market? To address this issue, I explore and solve a model of non-linear price competition between two asymmetric banks in terms of capital by considering price discrimination in pre-SEPA and uniform pricing in post-SEPA under the presence of economies of scale. My results show that the transaction pattern has a vital role in the effect of SEPA on competition between banks. Competition is less intense in post-SEPA when the transaction pattern is domestically oriented. Moreover, comparison of pre- and post-SEPA suggests that SEPA intensifies competition when economies of scale are large enough. I further show that consumer surplus improves in post-SEPA

Energy and exergy analysis of a novel multiple-effect vapor chamber distillation system for high-salinity wastewater treatment

A novel modular thermally-driven multiple-effect vapor chamber distillation (MVCD) system is presented for compact and portable desalination applications. The MVCD system consists of several vapor chambers connected in series with the condenser section of the upstream vapor chambers serving as the evaporator section of the following effect. A heat transfer model accounting for the major thermal resistances was developed to predict the heat transfer and distilled water production rates. A mass transfer analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of the accumulation of the non-condensable gasses within the chambers. An exergy analysis was also conducted to quantify the efficiency of the system from the viewpoint of the second law of thermodynamics. It was found that for a fixed number of effects, increasing the hot-end temperature increased the distillation rate and decreased the second law efficiency. On the other hand, increasing the number of effects at a fixed hot-end temperature resulted in increased distillation rate and second law efficiency. The increased salinity of the feed water resulted in smaller distillation rates and greater second law efficiency. For all the cases, it was found that sensible heat recovery from the discharging fluids could improve the gained output ratio (GOR) and the second law efficiency by about 10%. Quantitatively, at a hot-end temperature of 70°C, feed water salinity of 35 ppt and recovery ratio of 36%, the MVCD system with six effects and energy recovery from the discharging fluids yielded a GOR of 5.0 and a second law efficiency of 3.8%

Dynamics of a vapour bubble near a thin elastic plate

Numerical and experimental results show that during the collapse phase of a vapor bubble near a rigid boundary, in the absence of strong buoyancy forces, a liquid micro jet is developed on the side of the bubble far from the rigid surface and directed towards it. Numerical and experimental results also show that, in the case of a bubble near a free surface, during the collapse phase of the bubble and in the absence of strong buoyancy forces, the vapor bubble is repelled by the free surface. In this case a liquid micro jet is developed on the closest side of the bubble to the free surface and is directed away from it. The dynamic behavior of a vapor bubble near a free surface leads to the idea that a vapor bubble during its growth and collapse phases near a deformable diaphragm may have a behavior similar to its behavior near a free surface. In this paper dynamics of a vapor bubble during its growth and collapse phases near a thin elastic plate is investigated. It has been shown that the growth and collapse of a vapor bubble generated due to a high local energy input causes considerable deformation on the nearby thin elastic plate. Different thin elastic plates with different thicknesses and different flexural rigidities are assumed and the dynamic behavior of a vapor bubble near each of these plates is investigated. Results show that during the growth and collapse of a vapor bubble near a thin elastic plate with a proper thickness and flexural rigidity, in the absence of strong buoyancy forces, a liquid micro jet may develop on the closest side of the bubble to the thin elastic plate and directed away from it.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/84307/1/CAV2009-final132.pd

Integration of Phase Change Material-Based Storage in Air Distribution Systems to Increase Building Power Flexibility

This paper presents a novel energy storage solution by incorporating phase change material (PCM) in the building supply-air duct to increase a building’s thermal storage capacity. This solution has various advantages compared to PCM-integrated walls including more effective heat transfer (forced convection and greater temperature differentials). During off-peak hours, the system runs at a supply-air temperature below the material’s solidification point to charge the PCM with cooling energy. During on-peak hours, a higher supply-air temperature is utilized so that the stored energy can be discharged into the supply-air. This shifts a portion of the building’s cooling load from the on-peak hours to the off-peak hours. A numerical model for the melting and solidification of PCM in the duct was developed and modified using experimental data. Whole building energy simulations were conducted by coupling the PCM model with EnergyPlus DOE prototypical building model in a Simulink co-simulation platform. Simulations were performed for three cities in different climate zones over a three-month cooling season (June to August), and the PCM storage reduced the on-peak energy consumption by 20-25%. The electricity cost and payback period were determined using current time-of-use electricity rates

Experimental Investigation of Recast Layer, Heat Affected Zone and Corrosion Resistance in WEDM of Inconel 617

In this investigation, the effects of input parameters of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process such as pulse current and pulse duration on recast layer thickness (RLT) and heat affected zone depth (HAZ) in machining of Inconel 617 was investigated. Also the corrosion behavior of the machined workpiece was studied. The results showed that RLT increased by increasing pulse current, while HAZ decreased after an increase up to 10 A. Recast layer thickness and HAZ increased by increasing pulse duration. Also, results suggest that WEDM increased the corrosion resistance of workpiece

Experimental study on the influence of copper oxide nano-fluid on surface integrity in turning of AISI O1 steel

Turning operation is one of the most used operations at various industries and obtaining desired machined surface qualityis one of the important concerns of researchers. In this investigation the effects of using copper oxide nano-fluid ascompared with conventional fluid (soluble oil) as coolant and lubricant on surface integrity of machined surface of heattreated cold work tool steel (AISI O1) as workpiece has been investigated. So cutting speed and tool’s feed rate have beenconsidered as input variables and surface roughness, created white layer thickness and density of generated surface crackshave been considered as output parameters and regarding full factorial method of design of experiments a set of experimentsfor each kind of coolants has been designed and performed. The results have been shown that adding copper oxide nanoparticles as equal as 1% in volume to deionized water as base fluid decreases the amount of machined surface roughness ascompared with using soluble oil. Also using the prepared copper oxide nano-fluid decreases the amount of created whitelayer thickness and density of generated surface cracks on machined surfaces as compared with soluble oil

Experimental Investigation of Recast Layer, Heat Affected Zone and Corrosion Resistance in WEDM of Inconel 617

701-704In this investigation, the effects of input parameters of wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process such as pulse current and pulse duration on recast layer thickness (RLT) and heat affected zone depth (HAZ) in machining of Inconel 617 was investigated. Also the corrosion behavior of the machined workpiece was studied. The results showed that RLT increased by increasing pulse current, while HAZ decreased after an increase up to 10 A. Recast layer thickness and HAZ increased by increasing pulse duration. Also, results suggest that WEDM increased the corrosion resistance of workpiece